Nutrition problems of rice-eating countries in Asia / Nutrition Committee of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Date:
1948
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Nutrition problems of rice-eating countries in Asia / Nutrition Committee of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    22/32 page 16
    The Committee is of the opinion that three different types of teaching are required: (1) advanced courses suitable for those who wish to become specialists in nutrition; (2) courses suitable for workers in other fields in a position to apply the knowledge obtained; and (3) popular instruction in simple terms for school children and the general public. It feels that the difficulty of influencing established food habits has been over-emphasized but that any attempt must be thoroughly practical and based on a knowledge of local foods and local cultural and dietary practices. While field demonstrations by specially trained personnel are much more likely to be effective than posters and exhortations, all methods of educating the public should be utilized. Nutrition education should form part of health education in general and means must be found of spreading it even in areas where illiteracy is still prevalent. Close co-operation between FAO, WHO, UNESCO, and other organizations such as the League of Red Cross Societies in work in this field is essential. The Committee notes that lack of personnel trained in nutrition is still a major problem and recommends that ar- rangements for ‘‘teaching the teachers” should be regarded as a matter requiring urgent attention. Instruction in nutrition, with particular reference to its bearing on their own sphere of work, should be provided for medical officers, public health workers, nurses, agricultural workers, labor officers, welfare workers, teachers (especially teachers of domestic science), ca- terers, and administrative officers, as all these groups are in a position to influence the successful application of a scientific nutrition policy. Their combined efforts are required to ensure that recommended improvements are introduced and become suf- ficiently widespread and permanent. FAO should collect information about educational programs carried out in countries in the region and make this available to other countries drawing special attention to any developments which have led to successful results. [ 16 ]
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3